


Boes, Black Leather, and Bitchy Trampolines

by NerdAlert394



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-13
Updated: 2014-05-13
Packaged: 2018-01-24 15:02:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1609373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NerdAlert394/pseuds/NerdAlert394
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a full day of psychic boxing to get Cassandra out of her head, Rose needs a nap.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Boes, Black Leather, and Bitchy Trampolines

Rose Tyler was tired. Not just a “long day of running around fighting monsters” tired, or even a “kept up all night by bad dreams” tired. This was a bone deep exhaustion caused by fighting an unwanted visitor in her mind. The mental fatigue was enough to make her head ache, and her eyes droop on the walk back to the TARDIS.

The Doctor (the leather-wearing, Northern one) had explained to her once that humans in her time weren’t quite capable of psychic abilities. Even those with abnormally favorable tendencies towards it were weak compared to many species. This all added up to one major migraine when she’d had to try and force Cassandra out of her head, which was admittedly not very successful. The most she’d managed to do was get enough space in her own mind to see flashes of what had been happening around her; a few seconds of conversations with Chip, a minute or so of seeing the terrifying truth in the walls of the hospital, and even a brief peek at Cassandra using her lips to kiss the Doctor. That was when she’d began to fight in earnest, pushing and shoving at the foreign presence in her head until she’d been able to watch the goings on with the poor diseased human-incubators. She felt a brief moment of hope and joy when she realized that the Doctor knew something was wrong with her, but that hope was squashed when Cassandra knocked him out, at the same time firmly stuffing Rose’s consciousness into the back of her mind so she couldn’t see anything else.

Not until the chase. Then Cassandra had been hopping back and forth between her and the Doctor’s bodies like a ping pong ball, which (while semi amusing to see his lean body under the influence of a female) had been thoroughly draining. During those moments, Cassandra had been under more stress so she’d relaxed the pressure on Rose a bit, allowing her to see more of what was happening outside her body.

It was during these glimpses that Rose spotted the figure which was now bringing back wonderful and yet painful memories; the Face of Boe. The giant, psychic head that had been the sponsor for her and the Doctor’s first date. Seeing him again was a shock to say the least, and caused her to almost unconsciously remember her first Doctor. The end of the Earth, Charles Dickens, eating chips, barrage balloons, and most of all the warm, rich smell and feel of worn leather surrounding her after their latest adventure.

She was so focused on the memory of the jacket and its owner, that she barely paid attention to the walk back to the time machine. Her new suit-wearing, messy-haired Doctor was telling her all about how the chemicals had worked to save the human experiments, and how now they had a chance to be integrated into society as normal people. She nodded along and made the appropriate noises to keep him going, but he still noticed something was wrong.

“Rose, are you alright?”

“Hmm?” she broke out of her thoughts of harsh accents and leather.

“I asked if you were alright?” he stopped walking to look at her fully. Now that he’d taken a moment to notice, she was looking a bit worn out, which he supposed, wasn’t all that surprising considering the day’s events.

“I’m just a bit tired that’s all. Not used to having to fight just to think straight ya know?” she tried to play it off as no big deal. She didn’t want to upset him by telling him about her feelings of loss regarding his previous self. She knew that he was the same person, honestly she did, but it was still a bit hard to get her head around sometimes.

“Yes, well that is to be expected. When we get back to the TARDIS you should get some sleep. Best thing in the universes to cure a headache is a nap.” They both smiled at each other, and then he took her hand and led her the final distance to the TARDIS.

The Doctor stood at the controls flicking switches and pressing buttons to start the dematerialization process. “You go on and lie down, I’m going to get us into the Vortex and then when you wake up we can decide where to go on our next trip, alright?” he looked over his shoulder at her with an eyebrow quirked up in question.

“Yeah, alright. Sounds great. See you later then.” Rose turned to go to her room. When she was halfway down the corridor and knew he couldn’t see her anymore, she turned left instead of right at the end, taking her towards the wardrobe and not her room.

When she pushed open the doors, she looked around wondering how on earth she would be able to find one item of clothing in this place. Deciding to ask for some help she rested her hand on the wall, closing her eyes and silently thinking about the garment. When her eyes open, there was a spotlight shining a rack two levels up.

“Thanks, girl.” Rose smiled and went to retrieve the item.

* * *

 

After a few hours of tinkering with bits and bobs of his TARDIS, the Doctor stood up with a sigh, and began making his way towards the galley for some biscuits to munch on. He was feeling the first stirrings of boredom set in. Apparently this new body had even less of a tolerance for sitting still than his previous regenerations, but he ignored the need to land and go wandering off. The mental battle with Cassandra had been tough for him, and he had excellent psychic abilities. For Rose, it would have been astronomically difficult to even be able to know what her body was being used to do, much less stay fully conscious. She needed rest and relaxation right now, and he was going to give it to her.

He had just polished off his fourth Jammie Dodger when he heard a feint whimpering noise. It was one he was familiar with, but troubled him because it was the sound Rose Tyler made when she was having nightmares.

He ran towards her room, slowing down once he got to the door so he could open it to check on her. He wasn’t surprised by the blankets wrapped around her feet, or by the crease in her forehead. He was, however, slightly thrown by the sight of her wrapped up in the black leather jacket of his ninth regeneration. It concealed most of her body, swallowing her up in its size. She had her hands fisted around the cuffs of the sleeves as she twisted and turned on the bed, trying to run from whatever was in her head.

The Doctor threw off his momentary shock and went to her side. Sliding onto the bed with practiced ease, he took hold of her gently, his arms loose around her frame.

“Shh, Rose, it alright. It’s just a dream. You’re on board the TARDIS. I’ve got you, and you’re safe.” He murmured comforting words to her quietly hoping to get through to her. In the past, it had taken mere moments for him to be able to calm his companion down, and it was no different now. She stilled in his arms, and slowly her whimpers ceased and the lines in her forehead smoothed out. He stopped speaking but continued to hold her, stroking her hair softly. After a few more minutes, she woke up and turned towards him questioningly.

“Doctor?”

“Hello.” He smiled down at her. She returned the smile briefly before realizing what she was wearing.

“Oh! Doctor this isn’t what it, I mean I was just, I wasn’t –” she was cut off by his chuckle and she looked up at him with bright red cheeks and worried eyes.

“I’m not upset Rose.” She blinked at him.

“You’re not?”

“No, course not.” He used one hand to prop himself up onto his elbow, and his other to run a finger along the edges of the jacket. “You sought comfort in a garment that reminded you of my old self. You spent a long time with that version of me, so it only makes sense that you would look for peace in something that reminded you of him.” He looked into her eyes, trying to convey the truth in his words.

“But, you’re the same man. You explained it to me, and I do understand, you changed physically, but you’re still the same person.”

“Doesn’t mean you can’t miss the old me if the new me is standing right here, well, laying more like.” He tried to get her to laugh, but she didn’t seem to buy his casual reaction to her cuddling with his coat.  “Really Rose, it’s completely understandable. Let’s say that you had a sweatshirt that you really loved, wore it all the time, never went anywhere without it. Then one day it gets ruined and you can’t wear it anymore. So you go out and buy another one, an even better one.” This time she giggled a bit at his wink. “The new sweater is great and you love it just as much as the old one. That doesn’t mean that you can’t ever feel nostalgic for the old sweatshirt, never wish you had it back.” He smiled at her, “The new sweatshirts feelings won’t be hurt.”

She returned his smile with a warm one of her own, before reaching up and wrapping her arms around him, pulling him down to her in a gripping hug. He clumsily fell down with a grunt, landing none too softly on top of her.

“That’s because the new sweatshirt is wonderful.” She pulled back to look him in the eyes. “I’m really glad I’ve got it.”

His smile lit up the room. They lay comfortably wrapped in each other’s arms for a few moments.

“How’s your head feeling?” he asked her.

“Much better. Just needed a nap like you said. Why? You getting restless Doctor?” she teased.

“Yes, matter of fact, I am. So many places to see, so many people to meet –”

“So much trouble to get into.” She laughed at his offended gaze before rolling out of bed and pulling him up alongside her. She took off the leather jacket and held it out to him.

“Keep it.” He said pushing it back towards her. “I haven’t got a need for it anymore. Besides, that wardrobe is cluttered enough as it is. The less that’s stuffed in there the better.”

She rose on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. Then, tossing the jacket back onto her bed, they ran out of her room towards new adventures.

 


End file.
